Construction and Building Materials 30 (2012) 180–187

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Construction and Building Materials

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The effect of fly ash content and types of aggregates on the properties

of pre-fabricated concrete interlocking blocks (PCIBs)
Tayfun Uygunoğlu a, Ilker Bekir Topcu b, Osman Gencel c,d,⇑, Witold Brostow d
a
Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Afyon Kocatepe University, 03200 Afyonkarahisar, Turkey
b
Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Osmangazi University, 26100 Eskisehir, Turkey
c
Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Bartin University, 74100 Bartin, Turkey
d
Laboratory of Advanced Polymers and Optimized Materials (LAPOM), Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Center for Advanced Research and Technology (CART),
University of North Texas, 1150 Union Circle # 305310, Denton, TX 76203-5017, USA1

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: We studied the influence of fly ash content and replacement of crushed sand stone aggregate with concrete
Received 9 July 2011 wastes and marble wastes in pre-fabricated concrete interlocking blocks (PCIBs). We have compared
Received in revised form 27 November 2011 properties of PCIBs with fly ash produced with three different replacement ratios of aggregate. Compressive
Accepted 4 December 2011
strength, tensile splitting strength, density, apparent porosity, water absorption by weight, abrasion resis-
Available online 29 December 2011
tance, alkali-silica reaction and freeze–thaw resistance of PCIBs were determined. When comparing the
PCIBs with crushed sand stone, the replacement of crushed sand stone with concrete waste and marble
Keywords:
waste results in lower physical and mechanical properties. By contrast, replacement of cement with fly
Pavement blocks
Concrete waste
ash (from 10% to 20%) has a significant effect in increasing important properties of PCIBs.
Marble waste Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Fine aggregate
Fly ash
Waste management

1. Introduction A huge quantity of construction waste is produced every day,

USA, Belgium, France, Spain, Sweden, Italy, Egypt, Portugal, Brazil
and Greece are among the countries with considerable marble
reserves. Turkey has even more, 40% of total marble reserves in the
world. Seven million tons of marble are produced in Turkey annu-
ally. In processing marble such as cutting to size and polishing for
decorative purposes, marble dust and aggregate are created as
byproducts. More specifically, during the cutting process 20–30%
of the marble block turns into dust. Thus, waste materials from mar-
ble processing plants represent millions of tons [1]. 1400 tons of
waste marble per day are left and stored on depot areas as wastes
in Turkey [2]. Saboya et al. [3] reported that the amount of waste
from cutting and sawing process in Brazilian decorative stone indus-
tries can easily reaches 20–25% of the total volume of the block. Heb-
houb et al. [4] reported that a high volume of marble production has
generated a considerable amount of waste materials; almost 70% of
this mineral gets wasted in the mining, processing and polishing
stages with obvious impact on the environment.
⇑ Corresponding author at: Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering,
Bartin University, 74100 Bartin, Turkey. Tel.: +90 378 223 5363; fax: +90 378 223
5258.
E-mail address: osmangencel@gmail.com (O. Gencel).
1
http://www.unt.edu/LAPOM/; Tel.: +1 940 565 4358; fax: +1 940 565 4824.
representing a large fraction of the total solid waste stream all over
the word. Construction waste is mainly composed of concrete
waste. Eguchi et al. [5] reported that construction industry pro-
duces about 20% concrete waste of total industrial waste in Japan.
Marinkovic et al. [6] reported that about 850 million tons of con-
crete waste is generated in the countries of European Union per
year, what represent 31% of the total waste generation. In North
America, construction waste and demolition makes up about 25–
45% of the waste stream, depending on the region [7].
Fly ash, a by-product of coal power plants, causes environmental
pollution while the cost of storage of fly ash is very high. In Turkey,
the annual fly ash production is about 18 million tons more than the
rest of all industrial waste in the country [8]. In India, approximately
80 million tons of fly ash is generated each year [9]. The current an-
nual production of fly ash worldwide is estimated around 600
million tones [10].
Overall, a very high amount of waste is being produced all
around the world. The most common method of managing waste
is through its disposal in landfills creating in that way huge
deposits of waste. In this situation, waste recycling is gaining
increasing importance [11]. Also, restricted laws in the form of
prohibitions or special taxes for creating waste areas have been
brought into practice. It seems that stricter future waste disposal
regulations may be applied because the disposal of the waste has

0950-0618/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2011.12.020
 T. Uygunoğlu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 30 (2012) 180–187 181

become a severe social and environmental problem. Recycling has Table 1

the potential to reduce the amount of waste put into landfills and Particle distribution aggregates and mixture.

to preserve natural resources. Recycling, one of the strategies in Aggregates Sieve size (mm)
minimizing waste, offers three benefits: (i) reduces the demand 12 8 4 2 1 0.5 0.25
for new resources; (ii) cuts down on transport and production
Fine aggregate 100 100 83.4 60.4 34.26 16.86 8.06
energy costs; (iii) utilizes waste which would otherwise be lost Coarse aggregate 100 67.7 0 0 0 0 0
to landfill sites [12]. Mixture 100 80.6 33.5 24.2 13.7 6.7 3.2
Concrete remains an indispensable construction material and
allows engineers to evaluate many materials by incorporating
Table 2
them into concrete. Thus, the use of waste materials, industrial
The physical and chemical properties of materials.
wastes in the production of concrete is growing in importance
[13]. The use of fly ash in concrete is both economical and modifies OPC Fly Ash CW CSS MW
the properties of concrete in both the fresh and hardened states, Chemical properties
providing improvements to workability, strength and abrasion CaO 63.6 6.7 36.0 51.4 51.8
SiO2 19.3 47.4 28.0 2.9 4.7
resistance [14,15].
Al2O3 5.6 19.8 3.9 1.1 –
A number of studies have been performed by using recycled Fe2O3 3.5 11.8 2.10 0.2 0.03
aggregate in concrete, but they always resulted in a lower level MgO 0.86 4.76 1.48 1.0 0.4
of concrete strengths [16,17]. The quality of recycled concrete SO3 2.96 1.86 – 0.03 –
aggregates is usually lower than the quality of natural aggregate. K2O 0.8 2.62 1.29 0.14 –
Na2O 0.13 0.57 0.26 0.03 –
When demolished concrete is crushed, a certain amount of mortar LOI 1.15 2.76 26.3 42.9 41.16
and cement paste from original concrete remains attached to stone
Physical properties
particles in recycled aggregate. This attached mortar is the main Specific gravity 3.07 1.99 2.35 2.72 2.70
reason for lower quality of recycled concrete aggregates compared Fineness (Blaine) (cm2/g) 3212 3126 – – –
to natural aggregate [6].
Alyamac and Ince [1] as well as Topcu et al. [2] studied the fea-
sibility of using waste marble dust as a filler in self-compacting 2.1.3. Fly ash
concrete (SCC). They reported that marble dust had no effect on The fly ash was supplied from Tunçbilek, Kütahya/Turkey Thermal Power. FA for
workability of SCC. Mechanical properties of SCC have become use as additives in cement concrete has been classified in ASTM C 618 [20]. Speci-
somewhat worse using marble dust. Terzi and Karasahin [18] fication into two general types: class C and class F. The three major oxides (SiO2 +
Al2O3 + Fe2O3) must be in total more than 50% for class C and more than 70% for
investigated the use of marble dust in asphalt mixtures as filler.
class F. The fly ash was classified as F type according to the ASTM criterion, since
They have concluded that marble waste in dust form could be used the total of the major oxides in the fly ash is 79%. The Blaine fineness, which is de-
in such cases. However, little is known on the influence of marble fined as a measure of the particle size or fineness of cement and supplementary
waste as aggregate in concrete paving blocks on the properties of cementitious materials, was 3226 cm2/g. Specific gravity was 1.99 g/cm3. Its chem-
those blocks. Recently concrete block pavements have become an ical composition was given in Table 2.

attractive engineering and economical alternative to both flexible

and rigid pavements. The strength, durability and aesthetically 2.2. Mix design

pleasing surfaces have made paving blocks attractive for many

commercial, municipal and industrial applications such as parking
areas, pedestrian walks, traffic intersections, container yards and
roads.
Our above survey shows that there was no study on utilization
of marble waste in fabrication of concrete paving blocks. Therefore,
purpose of our work was determination of feasibility of using mar-
ble waste, concrete waste and fly ash in fabrication of concrete
paving blocks and effects of waste marble on physical, mechanical
and durability properties of concrete paving blocks.
Our work was divided into two parts. The first part aimed at the determination
of the effects of fly ash content on the properties of blocks prepared with different
types of aggregates. The second part aimed to evaluate the influence of the type of
aggregates on the properties of the PCIBs. Totally, 15 series of concrete interlocking
pavement blocks were prepared with fly ash content of 0%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40%
by replacement ratio of OPC by weight, and with three different types of fine aggre-
gates, namely crushed sand stone, marble waste and concrete waste. The constitu-
ents of the PCIB mix were proportioned to achieve maximum packing of the
particles and thus minimum of voids. Water to binder ratio was 0.45 in all the ser-
ies. The binder content was kept as 300 kg/m3. The aggregate content of the spec-
imens consisted as 40% coarse and 60% fine aggregate. The composition of the
mixes is presented in Table 3.

2.3. Fabrication of PCIB

2. Experimental

2.1. Materials
2.1.1. Cement
Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) type of CEM I 42.5R complying with TS EN
197-1 [19] was used. The cement was commercially available in Turkey. The spe-
cific gravity of cement used was 3.07. Initial and final setting times of the OPC were
300 and 530 min, respectively. The Blaine specific surface area was 3210 cm2/g.
2.1.2. Aggregates
Mainly two groups of aggregate were used in the production of PCIBs, fine and
coarse. Coarse aggregate was crushed limestone in size of 6/12 mm with specific
gravity of 2.71. That coarse aggregate was used in all the types of PCIBs. Fine aggre-
gates were marble waste, concrete waste and crushed sand stone. All of them had
the size of 0/4 mm. Waste marble and concretes were prepared as an aggregate by
crushing and grinding in a laboratory mill, then sorting via sieves into two groups of
coarse (>4 mm) and fine (<4 mm) aggregates. Gradation of aggregates and mixture
was presented in Table 1. The specific gravity of the fine crushed sand stone (CSS),
marble waste (MW) and concrete waste (CW) aggregates was 2.65, 2.70 and 2.24,
respectively.
A 50 l batch was prepared for all mortar mixtures using a pan. The mixing se-
quence consisted of homogenizing the coarse and fine aggregates and binder for
1 min dry, and then adding water to the mixing container. The concrete mixture
was mixed for 3 min. Then blocks were fabricated in steel molds using a dry-mixing
method which simulates the actual industrial production process of concrete
blocks. In other words, the mixes were prepared with water only sufficient to pro-
duce a cohesive mix but with no slump/workability. The size of PCIB specimens is
shown schematically in Fig. 1. The mixes were prepared in a small factory machine
using pressure (in ratio of 20%) and vibration simultaneously until complete com-
paction was obtained (Fig. 2a). The blocks were demolded immediately afterwards
(Fig. 2b) and cured in laboratory conditions at 20 ± 2 °C and relative humidity of
65%. The PCIB specimens were wetted in the first 7 days. Then, they were air-cured
until testing days.
2.4. Test methods
Several tests were conducted to determine the splitting strength, compressive
strength, density, water absorption by weight, specific porosity, abrasion resistance,
alkali silica reaction and freezing–thawing resistance of the PCIB. All the results be-
low are the average of three specimens.
182 T. Uygunoğlu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 30 (2012) 180–187

Table 3
Materials content for per cubic meter.

Series Fly ash ratio Materials (kg/m3)

(%)
Cement Fly ash Water Fine aggregates Coarse aggregate
CSS CW MW
M1 0 300 0 135 1212 – – 826
M2 10 270 30 135 1205 – – 822
M3 20 240 60 135 1198 – – 817
M4 30 210 90 135 1191 – – 812
M5 40 180 120 135 1184 – – 808
M6 0 300 0 135 – 1024 – 826
M7 10 270 30 135 – 1018 – 822
M8 20 240 60 135 – 1013 – 817
M9 30 210 90 135 – 1007 – 812
M10 40 180 120 135 – 1001 – 808
M11 0 300 0 135 – – 1235 826
M12 10 270 30 135 – – 1228 822
M13 20 240 60 135 – – 1221 817
M14 30 210 90 135 – – 1214 812
M15 40 180 120 135 – – 1207 808

CSS: Crushed sand stone; CW: concrete wastes; MW: marble wastes.

Fig. 1. Schematic representation of PCIB (measurements are in mm).
The compressive strength and splitting tensile strength were defined according
to TS EN 12390-3 [21] and TS 2824 EN 1338 [22] standards, respectively, by
2000 kN compressive machine with a rate of loading controller. The compressive
strength was tested on specimens aged 28 days; however, splitting tensile strength
of PCIBs was tested on specimens aged 3, 7 and 28 days. The load was applied to the
nominal area of paving blocks. The compressive strength was calculated by dividing
the failure load by the loading area of the PCIB.
Density, specific porosity and water absorption were determined on the pro-
duced paving blocks aged 28 days according to Archimedes principle by the weight
measurements of saturated specimens in air and in water, and dry weight (oven
drying at 105 °C to constant weight).
The alkali silica reaction test were performed on the bars in the size of
25  25  285 mm according to ASTM C 1260 [23]. Mortar mixtures were prepared
with fine aggregates and binder to determine the alkali silica reaction. The binder to
aggregate ratio was 1/2.25. A fixed water to binder ratio of 0.50 was utilized for all
mixes. The specimens were de-molded after 24 h, and the first length measure-
ments were performed on the specimens by using the displacement gage with
0.01 mm. Then, the second length measurements were made after the specimens
were cured in pure-water at 80 °C for 24 h. The bars were then stored in 1 M sodium
hydroxide (NaOH) solution at 80 °C. The expansion of the mortar bars were mea-
sured at 3, 6, 9, 12 and 14 days aged bar specimens.
PCIB specimens were subjected to abrasion testing at 28 days after casting
according to TS 2824 EN 1338 standard. Before testing, specimens were dried in
an oven at 105 ± 5 °C until reaching a constant weight. An abrasion test apparatus
used is shown in Fig. 3a. 142.5 N loads were applied to the specimens in the abra-
sion system. The length and diameter of disk was 70 and 200 mm, respectively. In
the test procedure, 1 l of corundum-crystalline powder was flowed between the
disc and the specimen from powder box (Fig. 3b), and the disc was rotated with
a rotational velocity of 75 rpm for 1 min for each specimen. After that, the length
loss due to wear was measured from the three points on the specimens, and the
averages of these measurements were determined for each specimen (Fig. 4).
For the freeze–thaw testing, the PCIBs were exposed to ASTM C666 Procedure A
[24] conditions: the specimens were kept in fully saturated condition with tempera-
ture cycling between 17 and +20 °C, each cycle took 6 h. The climatic chamber used
consisted of cooling and heating equipment producing continuous freeze–thaw cy-
cles with chamber temperatures ranging from 20 °C to +20 °C. The specimens were
frozen for 1 h in air at 17 °C, and then they were immersed into the water for thaw
for 2 h at + 20 °C. 60 freeze–thaw cycles were performed on each PCIBs.
3. Results and discussions
3.1. Compressive strength
The effects of cement replacement with fly ash and the effects of
different types of fine aggregate on compressive strength of PCIB

Fig. 2. A small factory machine (a) and production of PCIB specimens (b).
 T. Uygunoğlu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 30 (2012) 180–187
Fig. 3. Abrasion machine (a and b).
Fig. 4. Measuring of abrasion length of PCIB specimen.
are presented in Fig. 5. The compressive strength decreases as the
fly ash replacement ratio for each series is increased, clearly so
above 10%. Moreover, replacement of CSS with CW and MW results
in a decrease of compressive strength in PCIBs. Aggregate has a
significant influence on the strength properties of concrete pave-
ment blocks. The influence of strength properties of pavement
blocks increases with increasing density of aggregate. In addition
to strength properties, all other properties of pavement blocks are
also controlled by properties of the aggregate. The reduction in
compressive strength is related to the weakness and surface texture
of fine aggregates. We see that a replacement of CSS aggregates
with recycled aggregates result in lower compressive strength.
When the compressive strength of PCIB with CSS varied between
32.1 and 17.7 MPa, the compressive strength varied between 29.6
and 14.6 MPa and between 27.8 and 17.1 MPa for the PCIB series
with CW and MW, respectively, depending on the fly ash replace-
ment ratio. In general, the highest compressive strength is obtained
in PCBIs with CSS. The lowest compressive strength is seen in the
PCIBs with CW. Poon et al. [16] and Barra de Oliveira and Vasquez
[25] reported that the saturation level of the recycled aggregates
(CW) may affect the strength of the concretes since at higher satu-
ration levels the mechanical bonding between the cement paste
and the recycled aggregates becomes weaker. The decrease in com-
pressive strength of PCIB was 0%, 17.9%, 15.7%, 43% and 16.54%,
respectively, by replacing the fine CSS with fine CW aggregate
depending on fly ash replacement ratio from 0% to 40%. However,
183
35
Compressive strength, MPa
30 CSS
CW
25
MW
20
15
10
0
0 10 20 30 40
Fly ash replacement ratio, %
Fig. 5. Comparison of compressive strength of PCIBs versus fly ash content.
by replacing the fine CSS with fine MW aggregate, the decrease in
compressive strength of PCIBs was 17%, 13.4%, 6.7%, 14.84% and
3.3%, respectively, depending on fly ash replacement ratio from
0% to 40%. Evangelista and Brito [26] studied the use of fine recycled
concrete aggregates as partial or full replacements of natural fine
aggregates in structural concrete. The experimental results indi-
cated that the compressive strength went down by 10% as a result
of the fine aggregate replacement ratio of 100%. Strength of pave-
ment blocks are usually evaluated with tensile splitting strength
values.
It is well known that for a given replacement level with mineral
admixtures, the properties of concrete are influenced by the reac-
tivity of the mineral admixtures [27]. When comparing the PCIB
with CSS that contain no fly ash, an increase in the compressive
strength due to the 10% fly ash content was 8.7%; however, the in-
crease in compressive strength of PCIB with MW was 12% and
3.21% for fly ash content of 10% and 20%, respectively. On the other
hand, the decrease in the compressive strength due to the 20%, 30%
and 40% fly ash content was 7.57%, 12.2% and 39.5% when fine CSS
aggregate was used in the production of PCIBs. The reduction in
compressive strength of PCIB with CW ranged between 11% and
50.5% for fly ash content of from 10% to 40% while the reduction
in compressive strength of PCIB with MW ranged between 10.5%
and 30% for the fly ash replacement ratio from 30% to 40%. Salem
and Burdette [28] found that the 28-day compressive strength,
using 14% and 28% fly ash, of recycled concrete decreased from
38.85 to 35.5 MPa (9% reduction) and of natural concrete decreased
from 38.1 to 34.1 MPa (11% reduction). Therefore, based on the
results of this study, the optimum percent of added FA to enhance
the compressive strength is 10%.
184 T. Uygunoğlu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 30 (2012) 180–187

3.2. Splitting strength

Values of splitting tensile strength of PCIBs containing the CSS,

CW and MW aggregates are presented in Figs. 6–8 showing the re-
sults for 3, 7 and 28 days. Though the PCIBs possess the lowest
strength in early ages, they have a satisfactory strength enhance-
ment rate with increase of curing time. We find that splitting
strength of PCIBs with all type of fine aggregate increases with
the age of pavement blocks, regardless of fly ash content. The range
of strength increase of PCIBs with CSS, CW and MW, respectively,
varies from 55.6% to 68.8%, from 43.7% to 43.3% and from 31% to
51%, depending on fly ash content, when increasing the age from
3 to 28. The results vary between 51.8% and 50%, between 36.7%
Fig. 7. Splitting strength of PCIB with CW.
and 33%, and 27.4% for the PCIB series with CSS, CW and MW,
respectively, when increasing the concrete age from 7 to 28,
depending fly ash replacement ratio. The strength development
of PCIBs containing the CW and MW was higher than that of PCIBs
with CSS at 3 and 7 days.
As mentioned before, the strength of pavement blocks are usu-
ally evaluated with tensile splitting strength values in Turkish
standards. For paving blocks, a type of paving block for footway
use is specified by standard (TS 2824 EN 1338) [22] in Turkey,
requiring a 28-day characteristic splitting strength of 3.6 MPa.
The characteristic splitting strength of PCIBs was compared in
Fig. 9 depending on fly ash content from 0% to 40%.

3.3. Density
Fig. 8. Splitting strength of PCIB with MW.
The density of values of our block specimens are presented in
Fig. 10. For three PCIB types, density decreases with increase of
fly ash replacement ratio with cement in the mixture. This can
6.0
be attributed to the lower specific gravity of fly ash when com-
Splitting strength, MPa

pared to the specific gravity of cement. Differences between CSS 5.0 CSS CW MW
and MW are not significant. However, when the density of CW is
4.0
compared to those of PCIB with CSS and MW, density of PCIB with
CW is highly lower. The control paving blocks have the highest 3.0
density compared to the contaminated paving blocks. In general,
2.0
the contaminated paving blocks showed an average 5% decrease
in density. Topcu and Sengel [17] reported that unit weight de- 1.0
creased in hardened concrete with WCAs. While the unit weight
of concrete containing 50% of WCAs was 2301 kg/m3, the unit 0.0
0 10 20 30 40
weight of concrete with whole WCAs was 2251 kg/m3.
Fly ash replacement ratio, %

3.4. Apparent porosity and water absorption Fig. 9. Comparison of splitting strength of 28 days aged PCIBs.

Apparent porosity results for the PCIBs is presented in Fig. 12.

As seen from Fig. 12, porosity of PCIBs with CSS, CW and MW in- 2400
creases with increment in fly ash replacement in the mixture. For CSS
2300
CSS, porosity values are 10.3%, 10.7%, 11.5%, 15.8% and 18.5% for CW
Density, kg/m3

2200
0%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% fly ash replacement, respectively. MW
2100
2000
1900
1800
1700
0 10 20 30 40
Fly ash replacement ratio, %

Fig. 10. Changing of density of PCIBs depending on fly ash content.

Porosity values of PCIBs with CW are 17.9%, 18.1%, 19.4%, 21.5%

and 28.9% for 0%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% fly ash replacement,
respectively. Porosity values of PCIBs with MW are 8.2%, 8.6%,
Fig. 6. Splitting strength of PCIB with CSS. 12.8%, 13.8% and 14.3% for 0%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% fly ash
 T. Uygunoğlu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 30 (2012) 180–187 185

replacement, respectively. MW increases less apparent porosity of 18

PCIBs than those of CSS and CW. 16 CSS

Water absorption, %
Water absorption of concrete is naturally related to the nature of 14 CW
the pore system within the hardened concrete. Aggregate can also 12 MW
contain pores, but these are usually discontinuous. Moreover, aggre-
10
gate particles are enveloped by the cement paste, which is the only
8
continuous phase in concrete so that the pores in aggregate do not
contribute to the water absorption of concrete. Thus, the influence 6
of aggregate is quite small. The hardened cement paste has the 4
greatest effect on the absorption of fully compacted concrete. 2
Water absorption of the blocks results are presented in Fig. 13. 0
For CSS, water absorption values are 4.4%, 4.6%, 5%, 7.3% and 9.1% 0 10 20 30 40
for 0%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% fly ash replacement, respectively. Fly ash replacement ratio, %
Water absorption values of PCIBs with CW are 8.7%, 8.7%, 9.6%,
Fig. 12. Water absorption of PCIBs depending on fly ash content.
11.1% and 16.6% for 0%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% fly ash replacement,
respectively. Water absorption values of PCIBs with MW are 3.5%,
3.5%, 5.8%, 6.4% and 6.5% for 0%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% fly ash 0.25
replacement, respectively. The highest water absorption values be-
long to specimens with CW. The lowest values belong to the spec- 0.2
imens with MW.

Expansion, %
There is a relationship between porosity and water absorption of 3d 6d 9d
0.15
concrete. In this respect, when Figs. 11 and 12 are considered to- 12 d 14 d
gether, this relationship can be seen clearly on the produced con- 0.1
crete specimens. A certain amount of mortar and cement paste
from original concrete remains attached to stone particles in recy- 0.05
cled aggregate. This attached mortar may be the main reason for
higher porosity and water absorption values of PCIBs with CW. Top- 0
cu and Sengel [17] reported that in comparison with normal con- 0 10 20 30 40
crete, concrete including CW has a higher water absorption ratio. Fly ash replacement ratio, %
Also, an increase in porosity and water absorption of PCIBs may
Fig. 13. Expansion of PCIBs with CSS.
be related to the densities of the produced CPIBs. While the densi-
ties of PCIBs decrease, the porosities and water absorption values
of CPIBs increase as seen from Figs. 10–12.
0.25

3.5. Alkali silica reaction 0.20

Expansion, %

3d 6d 9d
Alkali–silica-reaction (ASR) is known as one of the most delete- 0.15
rious events that can occur in concrete: the reaction products are 12 d 14 d
expansive and lead to crack formation. According to ASTM C 1260 0.10
[23], an aggregate is usually considered harmless if the expansion
of cement–aggregate combinations is smaller than 0.1% at 14 days 0.05
in NaOH solution at 80 °C. If the expansion ratio of cement-
aggregate combination reached at the end of the 14 days is higher 0.00
0 10 20 30 40
than 0.2%, this is considered harmful to aggregates. On the other
Fly ash replacement ratio, %
hand, in the range between 0.1–0.2% and <0.1%, the expansion ratio
means uncertain and harmless, respectively. Fig. 14. Expansion of PCIBs with CW.
Consider the expansions of PCIBs with CSS, CW and MW. All our
concrete specimens have sufficient resistance to ASR. As seen from
Figs. 13–15, increment in FA in the mixture reduces the expansion
of concrete due to ASR. Also, it seems that MW has higher resis-
tance to ASR effect than CW and CSS. This may be due to the low
30 quantity of alkali silicate gel generated by reacting with MW.

25 CSS CW MW
Apparent porosity, %

3.6. Abrasion resistance

20
The abrasion resistance of concrete is strongly influenced by the
15
compressive strength, surface finishing techniques, curing types,
10 aggregate properties and testing conditions, i.e. dry or wet as re-
ported before Gencel et al. [29]. The abrasion resistance reports
5 of the different concrete types are shown in Fig. 16. While the other
properties of PCIBs decreased with the use of CW fine aggregate,
0
the abrasion resistance of PCIBs was increased. Evangelista and
0 10 20 30 40
Brito [26] reported that the abrasion resistance seems to increase
Fly ash replacement ratio, %
in ratio of 30% with the replacement of fine natural with fine recy-
Fig. 11. Apparent porosity of PCIBs as a function of the fly ash content. cled concrete aggregates. These assumed that this may be related
186 T. Uygunoğlu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 30 (2012) 180–187

0.25 5

Splitting strength, MPa

0.20 4
Expansion, %

0.15 3
3d 6d 9d
0.10 12 d 14 d 2

0.05 before F-T

1 after F-T
0.00
0 10 20 30 40 0
0 10 20 30 40
Fly ash replacement ratio, %
Fly ash replacement ratio, %
Fig. 15. Expansion of PCIBs with MW.
Fig. 17. Freeze–thaw resistance of PCIBs with CSS.

to a connection between the abrasion resistance and the bonding

of the cement paste with to fine aggregates improved when recy- 4
cled aggregates are used. Gencel et al. [29] explained this mecha-

Splitting strength, MPa

nism in detail in their work. Briefly as follows; 3
Abrasion increases with the applied load. As the abrasive parti-
cles achieve relative motion, shear forces are formed on the surface
2
of the abraded material along with a normal load. While the load
helps abrasive particles penetrate into the specimen surface, shear before F-T
force helps the formation of grooves and scratches on the surface. 1 after F-T
Thus, material transfer from the specimen surface occurs by a com-
bination of normal load and shear forces. In this respect, as well as
0
coarse aggregates, well dispersed fine aggregates and their bonding 0 10 20 30 40
with cement is very important. Fly ash replacement ratio, %

Fig. 18. Freeze–thaw resistance of PCIBs with CW.

3.7. Freeze–thaw (F–T) resistance

Micro-cracks mainly exist at cement paste–aggregate interfaces 5

within concrete, even prior to any loading and environmental
Splitting strength, MPa

effects. When the number of freeze–thaw cycles (FTCs) increases, 4

the degree of saturation in pore structures increases by sucking
in water near the concrete surface during the thawing process at 3
temperatures above 0 °C. Some of the pore structures are filled
fully with water. Below the freezing point of those pores, the vol- 2
ume increase of ice causes tension in the surrounding concrete. If before F-T
1 after F-T
the tensile stress exceeds the tensile strength of concrete, micro-
cracks occur. By continuing FTCs, more water can penetrate the 0
existing cracks during thawing, causing higher expansion and 0 10 20 30 40
more cracks during freezing. The load carrying area will decrease Fly ash replacement ratio, %
with the initiation and growth of every new crack. Necessarily
Fig. 19. Freeze–thaw resistance of PCIBs with MW.
the strength will decrease with FTCs [30,31]. Also, porosity and
water absorption of paving blocks is an effective factor in point
of freeze–thaw durability of blocks.
situation remains after F–T cycles. However, when freeze–thaw
The results of freeze–thaw cycling (FTC) durability tests are pre-
resistance of PCIBs is evaluated separately, there is no significant
sented in Figs. 17–19. As seen from these figures, splitting tensile
effect of fly ash replacement up to 40% with cement in terms of
strengths of specimens with CSS, CW and MW before subjecting
F–T cycle durability. Strength losses of the produced concretes
to F–T cycle decreases with increasing fly ash contents. This
with CSS, CW and MW are negligible.
Gokce et al. [32] reported freeze–thaw cycles of concrete
40
produced from recycled concrete aggregates with air content to
35
Abrasion length, mm

be less durable. They also reported that freeze–thaw durability of

30 concrete produced from fine materials of recycled concrete aggre-
25 gates was higher than that of concrete produced from normal sand.
20
15
10
CSS 4. General discussion and a survey of results
CW
5 MW The civil engineering construction industry is capable of absorb-
0
0 10 20 30 40
ing large amount of waste – incorporating the waste into useful
products. This is an example of a more general tendency of
Fly ash replacement ratio, %
industrial ecology for a sustainable future of the world: industry
Fig. 16. Abrasion resistance of PCIBs depending on fly ash content. by-products can be used as raw materials in other industries.
 T. Uygunoğlu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 30 (2012) 180–187
Usage of waste materials in concrete presents several advantages:
conserving mineral resources of a country such as aggregate and
sand derived from nature, preventing environmental pollution,
also a positive effect on a country’s economy because of the high
cost of waste storage. No natural resources constitute limitless re-
serves. For construction industry, maintainability and sustainable
improvement aims primarily to protect environment by using
alternative materials, new methods, and recycling.
The purpose of our work was determination of feasibility of
using waste marble and concrete waste – which is an environmen-
tal problem – in fabrication of concrete paving blocks and the
effects of waste marble on physical and mechanical properties of
the blocks so produced. Several conclusions can be drawn from
the present work.
 Compressive strength decreases as fly ash replacement ratio for
each series is increased. Also replacement of CSS with CW and
MW decrease compressive strength of paving blocks.
 Although paving blocks with CSS, CW and MW have around
2 MPa splitting tensile strength, all of them have satisfactory
splitting tensile strength in 28 days. Paving blocks with CSS
and MW fulfill the required strength (3.6 MPa) according to
the standard except for 40% fly ash replacement ratio.
 The presence of marble aggregate causes a very small decrease
of splitting tensile strength of the blocks.
 Density of paving blocks decreases by depending on increasing
fly ash replacement ratio. While there is no significant change
between paving block with CSS and MW, density of paving
block with CW decreases significantly.
 Porosity and water absorption of paving block increase by
depending on increment in replacement ratio of fly ash. At all
fly ash replacement ratios, paving block with CW has the high-
est porosity and water absorption values.
 All paving blocks have high resistance to ASR effect.
 Fly ash increases resistance of the blocks to ASR.
 Contrary to other properties of paving block with CW, its abra-
sion resistance somehow is better than those of paving blocks
with CSS and MW.
 Freeze–thaw durability of blocks decrease with increase of fly
ash ratio in the mixture. After freeze–thaw cycle, paving blocks
with CSS and MW at all fly ash replacement ratios except for
40% fulfill the required strength.
 Finally, we conclude that incorporation of waste marble and
concrete provides concrete paving blocks of sufficient quality.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank The Council of Higher Educa-
tion, Ankara-Turkey.
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